When a film says it's "inspired by a true story," it isn't necessarily true.
Hollywood has sneakily made a difference between the words based and inspired. Apparently, inspired is made up while based on is truly based on a true story. The Strangers was an awesome movie in my opinion however, it was "inspired by a true story". The Strangers was loosely based on various home invasion murders, including The Manson Murders, and based upon an Austrian couple that was murdered by three teenagers in their vacation home in The Czech Republic.

The True Story Behind the New Movie "The Strangers" is a mixture of three stories.

The killers, a principle male assailant and female accomplices, is based upon Charles Manson and the Manson killings.

The frantic "there's blood everywhere" 911 phone call and "bounding to a chair and stabbing" was based on the killings in Cabin 28.

The basic story of a couple being terrorized by a group of people was based on the famous killing in the Czech Republic, which was also made into a French Film titled Ils, translated to mean "Them."

In the Czech Republic murders, an Austrian couple are terrorized in their vacation home by three teenagers and are later killed in the forest when they try to escape. BUT, a concrete source for this alleged crime has yet to be found other than countless blog postings, leading most people to believe that the story was engineered much like the Blair Witch Project, to give Directors a legal excuse to claim that it was based on a "True Story."

In the Cabin 28 murders, the daughter of a woman walks into a cabin where her mother, brother, and brother's female friend were staying only to find them stabbed and hammered to death. She calls 911 frantically repeating "there's blood everywhere," which there was although no one heard anything all night.

This took a few hours to finally piece together, but I noticed that no one else had figured it out and wanted to be the first to say, "I cracked the story."

So in the end The Strangers inspired by a True Story claim is definitely true, but a combination of several stories to appeal to general audiences. That's Hollywood, but, as scary as it may be, also real life.

I agree that It was inspired by a group of stories, but I would hardly call it good. This was a god-awful movie with bad acting. The couple were as dumb as a pile of bricks. They handled the situation horribly.

i think the stranger story is true ever since i saw it i couldn't sleep at night. I'm afraid I'm gonna get murdered. when you get more info, that would be helpful so i can see if it's true or not, so i don't have to fear for my life!!! thanks

OK this movie it based on true events toward the director....if you go on youtube and type in the strangers director interview. He will say that when he was younger, these people would knock on every door in the neighborhood and if they didn't answer than they would kick down the door and rob you....and this happened to him to but his little sister opened the door and they asked is like a name is here and she said no and he said that they were nice. So if she wouldn't have opened the door all there stuff would have been gone. BE CAREFUL.

I just finished watching it and was totally into it until about half way and then it went from believable to movie BS. I was genuinely tensed up in the beginning wondering what was going to happen but then too much typical Hollywood stuff started happening. They're there, turn your head they're gone. You have a gun and they have a knife, but still you're the one scared. Yawn.

I would've slapped and shot a hoe if they tried breaking into my house when me and my husband were trying to get it on! Oh hell no you ain't stabbing me ***** this is the year 2010 I own a damn gun. I also have a home security system. If anyone tried breaking into my house I would know. I also like how convenient it is that nobody heard them scream or the gunshot at night even when they live pretty close to town. And why the hell wouldn't you lock the damn doors? Lol

"idk why the couple didn't just kill the man and then deal with those two females..wtf?? me and my boyfriend could have taken them three by ourselves!"

ya know i would LOVE to see that actually happen to you and you make it alive. look guys......... i personally think that it is a true story. think about where we're all living. think about all the **** that's happened in America so far and tell me that you don't think that what happened in the movie could TRULY happen in real life. the reason why the movie was believable to me was because "the strangers" took away their phones so they had no ability to call anyone. also when James finally got his father's shot gun he DID wait for "the strangers" to come to them. he shot his best friend in the process. so you people who say that you and your boyfriend can take the three of them on your own and survive and you people who say it's not based on a true story YOU'RE NUTS!!! it may not be a true story but hell it could be some day. you have no idea. no one does. anyway, my point is.... since they had no ability to call anyone and they were outside too you could die. so forgive me for believing in a movie that IS believable and CAN COME TRUE!!!

There were too many opportunities for 1 or the other to get away or call for help. They didn't take their phones away until later. It didn't make any sense to me. Yes, it could happen today. Just watch Jane Valez, Nancy Grace, or any investigative shows. Things really do happen. But if someone's knocking on my door at night and I'm not expecting anyone...I never open the door! And running to the barn? Really?! The movie was good, but it was too Hollywood, but that's the point of a Hollywood scary movie. And how does anyone really know what happened inside that house if no-one survived? The masks were definitely scary!
Oh well, I guess it's up to us, the viewers to decide!
Just don't answer your doors if you don't know who it is, get a dog or some dogs with a good, scary bark, have a gun and know how to use it...don't be hesitant, get a security system, and call 911!

listen i don't care what you guys say but listen to me. the strangers is a TRUE story!!! all three of the killers are in jail right now and they are never leaving jail!! OK so it is true!

They never caught the killers of cabin 28. So technically they are not in jail.. they are still out there. But don't worry. The likelihood of them striking again are slim to none. If they wanted to do it again they would have done it again and kept doing it. But believe what you please. It is up to you to decide if its true or not.

That was a really well documented answer. Thank you for that, I notice other movies that do this as well, even if they do not come right out and say inspired by true events. Some would be Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacres, Silence of the Lambs, and now even Dexter. It is an interesting subject and I am looking for contributors for website, documenting this atrocious type of history.

This movie is kind of plausible in the beginning and could be loosely based on several true events but i don't think the story as a whole is based solely on one single event. what about that one movie 'funny games'? pretty much the same concept. Any thoughts?

I think it's definitely plausible. Generally, people do not expect other people to come into their houses just to terrorize them. "Normal" people panic. "Normal" people don't go Rambo on supposed burglars/criminals. When they do go Rambo on them, one generally hears about it on news/tv/Internet (I even saw a chihuahua chase away burglars; it was a video from a convenience store security cam--good job, Paco!). Any who, the people who think they know exactly how to handle a situation like that are idealists--I mean, I'd ::like:: to think I could handle that... but 3 sickos against 2 normal, unsuspecting people? (yes, I say "normal" even though ::gasp:: the man isn't sure how to load a gun!) Plausible.

I did not like the ending, however, when Liv Tyler wakes up and screams in the boy's face. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure she'd be dead or, miraculously, unconscious.

Oh, and I've heard of that movie Funny Games... haven't seen it, but I want to!

I agree that It was inspired by a group of stories, but I would hardly call it good. This was a god-awful movie with bad acting. The couple were as dumb as a pile of bricks. They handled the situation horribly.

Before you start rating movies you might want to check your grammar skills.

I don't understand how anyone could think this couldn't happen to you?! Are you kidding me?! How naive are you people?! There are sick f**** (luckily not as bad as the mansons) that actually get off on this...and then people criticizing how the victims in movies react sometimes you have to go along w/it because you don't know what the f you're actually going to do in that situation until you've been in it. You can talk all you want about how you're going to play the hero or martyr but you don't know you might freeze! It's all about defense mechanisms- fight, flight, or freeze and until you've been in their shoes and talk **** on movies just stop and enjoy them until you've actually been chased by a murderer with a gun or knife in your hand! Just enjoy the movies or don't bother watching them!

I'm not usually the type to watch horror movies but I found the strangers to be a very good and realistic movie. From what I've hear and read I'd say this story is, without a doubt, true. Some people were saying that this movie is too Hollywood, but I didn't think so. Obviously if people are going to go up to someones house and kill them they have to have some kind of a plan. They also must have some kind of "practice" at what they are doing. I know that if I was in the situation of the couple I would have done the exact same as they had. But overall very good movie and very realistic. Glad I watched it.